33k in the air
Staff Sergeant
- 1,333
- Jan 31, 2021
"They" would be the streaming service I think. They would hugely benefit. Copyright is of no consequence.
They could even provide the song-making as a service. The client answers a couple of questions and they get their personal music playlist generated for them.
Copyright is a huge issue. Why have Hollywood companies and Disney fought so hard for decades to lengthen copyright terms? Because of the protection it provides for those businesses to exclusively earn revenue from their works. Back in 1920, copyright in the U.S. lasted for a single 28-year term, with the possibility of a second 28-year term if it was applied for, yielding a maximum of 56 years of protection. Now, copyright lasts life of the author plus 70 years, or in the case of work-for-hire or anonymous works, it's 95 years from first publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter.
Without copyright protection, it's essentially in the public domain, meaning anyone can use that work freely and without penalty. Some streaming service puts up an AI-made song, and anyone else can stream it, use it on a video, rebroadcast it themselves, or even sell copies of it, and the streaming service would have no recourse.
If copyright didn't matter, then music companies would not have gone so hard after Napster and its follow-ups. The companies would not complain and fight against piracy so much.